Trip to Germany & Berlin coming closer! PLUS Information on Aguia-Branca, MeinFernbus & Condor luggage allowance

Since Dezember, I am planning my next Trip to Germany and Berlin! YAY!!! This time together with the prince of sun <3 Now there are only about three weeks left, OMG, so excited =)

I am going to visit my friend Berlin girl at her place in Potsdam, do Berlin sightseeing (and shopping) with the prince and her and we will even do a short day trip to Warnemuende, a seaside resort and former fishing village situated on the Ostsee, Baltic Sea in the North-Eastern part of Germany, close to Rostock. I am really looking forward to showing the prince an authentic German beach and sea as well as traditions and his first, ever dunes (and dune rabbits!). (He does not know about the day trip, so.... cannot wait to see his face when he suddenly stands in front of the beach and sea, he thinks we are only going to visit Berlin and Potsdam, no word from me or Berlin girl about the trip or destination hehe....

Castle beauties - Fantasy vs Reality 

There is more, my family and I are planning to go on many castle trips, at least 4 different ones, one will be the Hohenbaden Castle, one castle near Gengenbach (forgot the name, I have to research some more...) plus the beautiful Hohenzollern Castle (those three are all located at less than 2h by car from my parents' place) and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the one that Disney used as a template for their dream castle) (located more or less 4h by car from my parents' place).

And as a cream-top for my holiday cake of wonders, two of my dear London friends, holiday girl and dance girl, are coming over for a weekend trip, none of them have been to Germany so I am thrilled to introduce them to our wonderful culture, delicious hearty German food, relaxing Roman bath-spa, breath-taking waterfalls.... *_* so excited!

So, other than that I have been planning to take lots of books and have made some packing lists (what to pack in Brazil), German-culture-related items (especially German children s books and items), shopping lists, Berlin packing list, Berlin to-do list, Berlin shopping list, my region's to do list, home-trip packing list.... I did mention that I love making lists... haha....

I mentioned some of our travel companies during my Europe trip last year already, I actually used the same companies as we do this time, but now I'll explain the baggage allowances for each company in detail.

So here you go, here more about each company we are travelling with:

Our first travel company is a Brazilian coach company called

Aguia Branca - 12h night bus from Porto Seguro to Salvador
-one suitcase of 30kg (to be stored in the luggage department of the bus)
-no exact restrictions for hand luggage

Last time I travelled with them, I only had one hand luggage (the carry on size), but most people travelling with me on the bus had a carry on plus normal handbags plus enormous plastic bags with them so I am quite optimistic that they are pretty generous with hand luggage taken on the bus with you (as long as you can fit it into the relatively generous space in front of you).

Arriving at the bus station in Salvador the next morning, we will take one of the local buses to the international airport in Salvador, where we will catch our flights in the afternoon, we are flying with

CONDOR, 10h over-night transatlantic flight from Salvador to Frankfurt
-2 suitcases of 32kg each (yes, you are reading right here *_*)
-hand luggage=carry on of 6kg
-1 laptop bag plus laptop
-1 small handbag
-umbrella

Isn t that just a dream....! Let's get that straight.
Proper 64 kg checked luggage. 6kg carry on. Total: A whopping 70kg. Not counting the handbag and laptop bag stuff!!! AAAAND the prince and I are travelling together. Each of us has those allowances, making it official:  140kg. Plus content of two small (hand)bags & notebook bags *_*

Right, last trip to Berlin, we will probably leave most of my stuff at my parents' place when we leave for Berlin and only take one suitcase and backpack with us, so our last company mentioned is

MeinFernbus, 10h daytime coach trip from Karlsruhe to Berlin

Our luggage planning

-2 suitcases of each 20kg
-hand luggage of 15kg

Whopping, isn t it!

I know now you'll ask me how I will ever be able to get my luggage sorted with so many different luggage restrictions.

Keep calm and... read on ;)
Here a small collage that I did for you (and me), explaining it a bit better and reminding me of what I have to bring in the first place - plus the amount of space I will have available for books and shopping items - and there will be loads for sure....

As we are going to travel with only a few clothes (we can wash our clothes at my parents'), shoes (I have most of my winter sturdy shoes in Germany anyway) and other small-sized necessities (going to buy new cosmetics there *_*), all in all on our way to Germany, our suitcase will be quite empty. The prince and I are each going to take a pretty normal size suitcase, I am not sure where the prince's suitcase is from, but mine is a Stratic with hard-top case. When doing international travel you tend to get your suitcase totally wrecked so you better go with a sturdy version. My hand luggage will probably be my old pink hand luggage, pretty wrecked but sturdy enough. Then a small handbag plus my Scottevest Trench Coat with its hidden pockets - I could probably call it my second, unofficial carry on ;) aehem. So travelling with Aguia Branca and Condor will be no problem at all, my luggage weight will probably be just about 12kg for my suitcase and 5kg for hand luggage, no big deal really.

Trunki Bernard the bee - ride on - carry on

Now on the way back, I am going to use my pink carry on as a second suitcase and use as much of the 32kg limit as possible. Meaning it can be used as one of my two suitcases of 32kg each on condor but also as a hand luggage on the Aguia Branca coach. Plus, probably I am going to buy a pretty children's carry on called Trunki Bernard for our future little butterfly =) Going to write an article about it, it is such a lovely thing, mix of carry on suitcase plus a ride-on toy, although they call it Bernard the Bee in the English description it really reminds me of the German classic TIGERENTE <3 getting nostalgic here hehe

So the latter will be my official condor hand luggage on the way back and I ll just put it in a huge plastic bag on the Aguia Branca coach, so no big deal either. I am also planning to take my beautiful SWISS handbag-aka-laptopbag with me =) it is currently at my parents' place... So, lots of more luggage space, not forgetting the small handbag and Scottevest Carry on Trench Coat! hehehe....

Same for the prince, he is going to take his leather jacket (not as many pockets, but still a lot of space to put stuff inside =) plus his normal suitcase (which is a bit smaller than my Stratic) and red hand luggage plus his laptopbag and a backpack. The backpack will be stored in either the suitcase or carry on on the way to Germany, as we will not have anything to carry in it ;) Probably he will not take a small bag with him, no handbag, that s for sure :D But who knows, maybe he ll come across a small man's handbag - nothing s impossible. Maybe one of those hip-bag-belt thingies, who knows =) But most probably not... On the way back he will use his red carry on as a second 32kg suitcase and his backpack as a carry on.

Problem solved!

Oh, by the way, curious how many kg of luggage we will be able to take with us in total? There you go: 2 suitcases of each 32kg makes 64kg. Plus 6kg hand luggage. 70kg. Then the notebook and notebook bag maybe about 5kg, 75kg plus a small handbag and umbrella, another 5kg probaby. 80kg. Per person. So for both of us together, 160 whopping kilos! And we did not count the kilos in the Scottevest Carry on trench coat and the prince s leather jacket! So probably the inofficial kgs that will be taken on board on our way back come close to 180kg or more, the official total weight to 160kg. THAT IS SOMETHING, BABY!

I really love packing bags when I have such lovely weight and baggage restrictions <3